Morkel says ‘IPL experienced’ players can’t blame conditions for WC failure

Johannesburg: South Africa fast bowler Morne Morkel has said the team won’t be able to blame subcontinental conditions if they choke in the World Cup in Sri Lanka because of the experience many Proteas players have gained playing in similar conditions in the Indian Premier League (IPL)

The South Africans held their first practice session of the tournament at the Colts Cricket Ground on Sunday afternoon and got a feel for the climate, which can be challenging at times “It’s very humid here at the moment. It’s almost similar to Chennai and we expect the conditions to be fairly the same,” Sports 24 quoted Morkel, as saying. “We play a game against New Zealand and for us that is the business day of the tournament, we need to work on our basics and find our feet. We have played a lot of cricket over the past few years in the sub-continent so we can’t use that as an excuse, we have to try and control the things that we can control and take it from there,” he added. “We have a lot of experience in our team, the players have played a lot of T20 cricket in these conditions with the IPL so I think we will be fine,” he said. South Africa would play their first group stage match against Zimbabwe on Thursday in Hambantota. ANI